KSR Today: A new football commit, Mark Pope on the trail, and schedule updates

Good morning, folks! We’re starting today’s morning post by talking about Kentucky football adding another commitment, this one the third of the month and fourth overall to the 2026 class.

Three-star athlete Jordan Crutchfield pledged to the Wildcats on Wednesday, joining four-star OT Jarvis Strickland, three-star WR Prince Jean, and three-star WR Davis McCray as future Wildcats. Primarily recruited by co-defensive coordinator Chris Collins, Crutchfield took recent official visits to UK and Mississippi State. He was actually scheduled to visit Louisville this weekend, but that trip has been called off. Another whiff by Vince Marrow. Smh…

A rising senior at Vero Beach (FL) High, Crutchfield is considered the No. 416 overall recruit in the country by the On3 Industry Ranking. He is expected to play cornerback at UK. Now let’s see if the ‘Cats can keep the recruiting momentum rolling.

More 2025-26 MBB schedule news announced

A few games were added to the 2025-26 Kentucky men’s basketball schedule on Wednesday. We learned earlier in the week that the Wildcats will take on John Calipari‘s Arkansas squad just once, this time in Fayetteville. And now, thanks to Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports, we know that Kentucky will take on defending national champion Florida twice during the SEC regular season, once at home and once on the road. Rothstein later revealed that the ‘Cats will host North Carolina in the SEC/ACC Challenge.

A few more non-conf games will be added/announced over the course of the summer, as will the entire SEC schedule. Below is UK’s non-conference schedule as we know it.

• Oct. 24 (Fri.): vs. Purdue | Rupp Arena (Exhibition)
• Oct. 30 (Thu.): vs. Georgetown | Rupp Arena (Exhibition)
• Nov. 11 (Tue.): vs. Louisville | Louisville
• Nov. 18 (Tue.): vs. Michigan State | Champions Classic (New York)
• Nov. 21 (Fri.): vs. Loyola University Maryland | Rupp Arena
• Nov. 26 (Wed.): vs. Tennessee Tech | Rupp Arena
• Dec. 5 (Fri.): vs. Gonzaga | Nashville
• Dec. 9 (Tue.): vs. NC Central | Rupp Arena
• Dec. 13 (Sat.): vs. Indiana | Rupp Arena
• Dec. 20 (Sat.): vs. St. John’s | CBS Sports Classic (Atlanta)
• Dec. 23 (Tue.): vs. Bellarmine | Rupp Arena
• TBD: SEC/ACC Challenge | TBD

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SEC TV game windows set for football season

Yesterday, ESPN dropped TV game windows for the 2025 SEC football season. Times had already been announced for the first three regular-season games, but this new update includes time windows for every game except Louisville (the ACC will decide on that one). Night games range from 6-8 p.m., afternoon games range from 3:30-4:30 p.m., and FLEX games begin at 3:30 p.m. or later.

2025 Kentucky Football TV Windows

• Aug. 30: Toledo – 12:45 PM, SEC Network
• Sep. 6: Ole Miss – 3:30 PM, ABC
• Sep. 13: Eastern Michigan – 7:30 PM, ESPNU
• Sept. 20: BYE
• Sep. 27: at South Carolina – FLEX
• Oct. 4: at Georgia – Noon, ABC or ESPN
• Oct. 11: BYE
• Oct. 18: Texas – Night
• Oct. 25: Tennessee – Night
• Nov. 1: at Auburn – FLEX
• Nov. 8: Florida – FLEX
• Nov. 15: Tennessee Tech – 1:30 PM, SECN+/ESPN+
• Nov. 22: at Vanderbilt – Afternoon
• Nov. 29: at Louisville – TBD

Mark Pope hitting the recruiting trail

Mark Pope brought his coaching staff to Rock Hill, SC, this week to check out some of Kentucky’s favorite high school targets at the NBPA Top 100 Camp. Assistants Alvin Brooks III, Cody Fueger, and Jason Hart also made the trip, as roughly two dozen Kentucky targets are participating in the event. College coaches are allowed back in the gyms once again today for another look before the dead period goes into effect again on Friday.

Fresh episode of 11 Personnel in your feed

It’s been an unexpectedly busy week on the Kentucky football beat. The 11 Personnel crew is here to fill you in on everything you might’ve missed. Nick Roush and Adam Luckett jumped on the mics to talk about Marrow’s departure for Louisville, where Kentucky’s recruiting goes from here, kickoff times, and much more.

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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, OKC go down 2-1 in Finals

The Indiana Pacers just refuse to die. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the OKC Thunder learned that once again during Wednesday night’s Game 3 in Indy — a 116-107 loss.

SGA dropped in 24 points (9-20 FG), eight rebounds, and four assists, but the Pacers’ trapping defense forced him into six turnovers and had him exhausted down the stretch. Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams combined for 46 points, but 17 team turnovers proved costly in this one. Cason Wallace chipped in seven points and four rebounds in 24 minutes for OKC. Indiana’s Tyrese Haliburton went for 22 points, 11 assists, and nine rebounds while Bennedict Mathurin added 27 points off the bench.

Game 4 will stick in Indy. A win for the Pacers would put them up 3-1, which has only been overcome once in NBA Finals history — and that series had LeBron James leading the comeback. But if the Thunder can tie this series up going back to Game 5 in OKC, it would be tough to bet against them to win in seven games. Game 4 is scheduled for Friday at 8:30 p.m. ET on ABC.

How does Tyran Stokes look in Kentucky blue?

Speaking of high school recruits, Kentucky recently managed to sneak the nation’s No. 1 overall prospect to Lexington for an official visit. Five-star small forward Tyran Stokes was in Lexington beginning June 8, where he spent the next few days with the coaching staff and the new team.

Stokes has already taken official visits to Louisville and Kansas, but Pope has the Wildcats very much in the mix for arguably the best player in high school hoops.

BBN how we feel ¿? pic.twitter.com/Dr1YIXb34s

— tyran stokes (@tyran_stokes) June 11, 2025

Travis Perry opens up on leaving Kentucky

Travis Perry will be an opponent for Kentucky this season. The Bluegrass native left Lexington after one season to go play for Chris Beard at Ole Miss. This week, Perry talked about that decision for the first time with the media — a decision that Pope has openly disagreed with.

“It’s a difficult decision for anybody to get in the portal,” Perry said. “I just felt like, at the end of the day, you’ve got to make the best decision for yourself and your basketball career. You only get so much time to do it, only so much time to play basketball. So, I felt like I made the decision that myself and my family felt like was best for my basketball career, and I’m very excited about it. Excited to get going.”

I’m not sure about the rest of the Big Blue Nation, but this writer will be rooting for Perry’s success — just not against Kentucky.

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